Saturday the 30th. We got our
tickets in the mail for Sesame Street Live today. They are a combo
birthday present for both the boys. Amy and I are excited because we know
how much Jackson and Ben will both enjoy it. We wanted to take Jackson
when he was Ben's age, but the show didn't come to town.

Friday the 29th.
Jackson's trial isshinryu lesson was tonight. He did exceptionally well,
paying very close attention to his sensei Eric Latza and guest sensei from New
York, a 1995 World Champion. After class the sensei invited Jackson to join the Monday/Wednesday
classes. He said that Jackson seemed very focused and paid very good
attention. During the sparring competition at the end of class, Jackson set
with the instructors. I thought that was a great idea, I mean, it was his
first class and it's not like we let Jackson fight. Then I heard the
sensei ask everyone to stop talking, I looked up and saw him holding Jackson's
glasses. And there was my four year old, standing in the middle of the mat,
bowing to a little girl in pink. Jackson ran right at her with his tough
guy
game face on.
He later told us that he wished that part had lasted longer. We were happy
with the way the class went. The guest sensei spent lots of one on one
time with Jackson. Lots of stretches and not a lot of goofing off.

"Yee-haw!" is
not a foreign policy. That's a bumper sticker I just ordered from
www.irregulartimes.com. Plus a
couple of stickers.

Thursday the 28th. Tomorrow will be
Jackson's first night studying isshinryu and he is so excited he could bust.
He's wanted to learn martial arts for a very long time, but we told him that he
would have to wait until he was five. Jackson's birthday is next Tuesday,
so we go for a trial class this week. It seems to be his passion, much
more so than sports, so we'll try it out and see what happens. Jackson
says that he wants to be a karate instructor when he grows up, so who knows.
Of course that would just be his secret identity because his real job would be
super-hero. His lessons will be three nights a week, Monday, Wednesday and
Fridays.

Amy took the boys for a walk to the new
candy store on Main Street this afternoon that included a stop at Miss Etta's
playground.

Wednesday the 27th. Ben's word
for stick is icky, he can say "I wanna cookie!", often asks for "hep",
and Oscar the Grouch's pet worm Slimey is one of his favorite Sesame Street
characters. His favorite past time is holding things in his hands that he
can shake or wiggle, things like daisies, dandelions, or his rubber lizard.
And when you hand him something, like a cookie, he asks for more. When you
hand him a second one, he holds it against his chest with the hand that's
holding the first cookie and then, once again, asks for more. After
getting a third cookie he says "Thank you Daddy" and walks away. He has to
have one in each hand, plus an extra for good measure.

Tonight we visited the boys'
great-grandmother in Claudville. Getting to talk to the cows made Ben very
happy. Ben has a new calf that he hasn't seen yet, we'll need to get to
Papa's farm soon and check it out. Ben also made a big deal over Hama,
hugging her and playing peep-eye.

Tuesday the 26th. Things I've
learned about Grand Bahama Island that I didn't know before I visited it... The first settlers, the Siboney Indians,
lived on the island as long as 7000 years ago, living off conch and fish.
They disappeared around the time the Lucayans made their way to the island by
way of the Caribbean from South America. Good old Christopher Columbus and
his fellow Spaniards quickly wiped out the 4,000 Lucayan inhabitants in 1492 through
enslavement, murder, and the introduction of new diseases. The island, named
Gran Bahamar (meaning great shallows) by the Spanish, was ... more

Monday the 25th. Well, it's back to
reality day for the Heaths. We are still waiting for Amy's voice to
return, she apparently left it somewhere in the islands. Below are a few more photos from our trip,
I've posted a lot more on the beach photos page and click
here to see all our pics from the
wedding.

Sunday the 24th. Started the day with a nice Bohemian breakfast across the street before making
the trek home. Jackson got sick during our first trip, which caught us off
guard and made for quite an interesting scramble. The poor little guy got
sick during our landing at Greensboro too, but at least this time we were ready.
He threw a dime in a fountain at PTI airport and said "I wish I never get on an
airplane again." Surprisingly cold in North Carolina, but we are very
happy to be back home.

Saturday
the 23rd. Amy took an early morning walk and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise.
Jackson and I then bought donuts across the street and brought back
breakfast. Next it was the pool and the beach before taking a break in the
room so that Ben could nap inside today. Below are some of the photos from
yesterday's wedding. I'm posting more on the
wedding gallery. We ran into Deana and Martin a few times by the pool and on
the beach.
They had a fun night at their private blackjack table and spent their first day
married having fun outside. They even parasailed later in the afternoon.
We spent the afternoon doing some hardcore beach play, Jackson worked for hours
with Caleb and Izzy digging a hole. For some reason Ben can't stay awake
on the beach, maybe the waves lull him to sleep. So he took another nap on Amy,
he is averaging about three a day in the Bahamas.
We ate dinner with family at a British pub at Port Lucaya, then fed fish off the
pier. We were excited that a unicorn filefish swam by, of course
someone had to tell us what it was and that it we were lucky to see it. Izzy got braids
and we all ate ice cream at Andy's Ice Cream parlor. Then Mo watched the
boys while Amy and I returned to Port Lucaya for Kaliks and tunes. Amy's
voice has mysteriously left her however, and it was impossible to carry on a
conversation near the music, so we walked along the harbor looking at all the yachts before ending the evening on
the beach with Pina Coladas from the Prop Club..

Friday
the 22nd. Started early with lots of beach and pool time, then ate lunch at
the prop club before getting ready for the wedding. The wedding went
perfectly, it even had a rainbow. I'll post photos from that later.
After the wedding Eric watched all the kids and we went to the reception dinner
at The Ferry House. The tables were on the pier overlooking a moonlit
harbor. We had sushi for the first time and course after course of
delicious food to go with the wine, Kaliks, and great company of family and old
friends.

Thursday
the 21st. Yesterday exhausted us, we slept very hard last night. But Jackson
was up early and ready to go again. We spent most of the day at the pool.
The weather is wonderful, hot and breezy. After making a quick run-through
rehearsal for the wedding, we decided to take a break from the sun and came in
for a rest. Later in the afternoon we went shopping through the straw
market and had a blast. Papa bought the boys wooden snakes and Jackson
bought a cool necklace. We then met up with the rest of the family and
went to Port Lucaya where Deana treated everyone to a wonderful dinner at
FatMan's Nephew overlooking Count Basie Square. We tried conch fritters
and I absolutely loved them, fantastic. The shark entree was delicious
too. That's it for today, tomorrow is the big wedding day, but I'm sure
we'll have lots of time on the beach first.
more beach photos

Wednesday
the 20th. All the kids loved their first flight, I don't even think Mo
minded it that much. We are traveling with a large group of friends and family,
which has made it even more fun. Jackson was so excited this morning, he ran
into the living room at 4:30 yelling "Let's go to the Bahamas!"
more beach photos

Tuesday
the 19th. Tomorrow morning we fly to the Bahamas for my sister Deana's
wedding on Friday. We are terribly excited, especially Jackson. This
morning he ran back and forth through the house yelling "I'm going to the
Bahamas! I'm going to the Bahamas" He can't wait to be above the clouds
and on an island. We are also very excited for Deana and
Martin. Deana says she is "frantic", trying to get everything ready. Our
hotel has high-speed
Internet access, so stay tuned for updates from our trip and from the wedding.
As for the trip, we have to get up around three in the morning to be at the
Greensboro airport in time. Not sure how that will work out with the kids,
but the awesome part about starting early is that, following a brief layover in
Atlanta, we should arrive at the island before lunch.

Monday the 18th. We had a great time
at Dinner Club in Greensboro last night.
Brian and Jenny's street was in full bloom, the weather was great, the barbeque
chicken was awesome, the kids enjoyed playing, and we enjoyed seeing everyone.
Click here for more photos and dinner club
details. After school this morning, Jackson went to Sam's for a
tea party.

Sunday the 17th. After being
with their Grandma Sue everyday for the past four weeks, the boys have to say
goodbye today. We brought Grandma home yesterday and return to Mount Airy
today, making a stop in Greensboro for Dinner Club at the Hunt's. Whenever
I told someone that I was taking Grandma's new couch on top of the van they
looked at me like I was crazy. A few people on the 250 miles of Interstate
looked at us like that too. And a few gave us the thumbs up. But I
figured it's shorter than a kayak, just a little fatter. Anyway, we got it
there. Saturday morning Papa, Caleb, Jackson and I helped Deana move some
of the things out of her house. The wedding is Friday, we'll miss Deana
being in town with us. Following the wedding, she'll live in Stuart,
Virginia. This morning was beautiful, so the boys and I went to Fort
Clifton to stretch our legs with a stroll along the Appomattox before hitting
the highway. We also played at the Tussing Elementary playground.

Congratulations Warren, Jennifer, and
Emma on the arrival of Bethany Grace Davis!

Saturday
the 16th. When
Ben isn't comfortable with what he sees on the television, he hides. It's
usually a character on Sesame Street, like the elephants, or maybe an episode
where Elmo is arguing with Zoe, those type things. Sometimes he walks into the
dining room and peaks around the corner, sometimes he gets behind a chair, and
sometimes he holds something in front of his face. If it's an
episode he's seen before, then he starts walking backward before the troubling
scene starts in anticipation. I don't think he is going to like horror
movies when he grows up.

Friday
the 15h.. What a busy morning! By eight o'clock I had taken both
the kayak and the bike for a spin. Jackson had
his March of Dimes Teamwalk at Central
this morning, so Amy, Sue and Ben went to watch and walk with him.
Great morning for it. (Click here
to go to see both last year and this year's pics) Sue and Amy first went to The Good Life for coffee
and scones (they turned the flatscreen to PBS for Ben). I was on the water at 6am and off at 7am.
The lake was exploding with activity this
morning. The osprey was back and seemed interested in what I was doing.
He never strayed to far from where I was at. I heard him for the first
time, along with three gobblers bantering from three different locations. I
found one of them, still in his tree, on the right side of the lake. While
I watched him, he flew across the water, to the the hillside where Jeff and I
have seen them the last few times we've been. The mist was heavy and the
first three times a beaver swam up, I didn't know they were there until they gave me their tail
splash, almost giving me a heart attack every time. I found one beaver on
the far left side of the lake. He swam from the bank and all the way
around the front of my kayak before slapping the water and diving below.
Unfortunately I didn't have enough light to focus without a flash. I had
some great shots as he passed the bow of the boat with geese framed just beyond,
but they were all terribly fuzzy. Great morning to be outside. The
afternoon wasn't bad either. After Jackson played with his friend Samuel,
he went for a walk with Amy and Ben to my office. Unfortunately I was in a
meeting, but Jackson got to visit with our friend Cindy Ritenour while he was
there. Then later, while I was out picking up Chinese food and Japanese
food for dinner, they played in the front yard with our neighbor Jacob. And in case
any of you were wondering about the pie from last night.... it was
delicious.

Thursday
the 14th. The
rain clouds are gone, the air is chilly, but sunny and beautiful. Our
lawnmower returned, repaired, so Amy pushed and shoved it through our front yard
during lunch (fertilizing twice right before the lawnmower broke worked out
great!). Supposedly the repairman just shook his head when he looked at my
handiwork and said "you never take off the spring..."
Funny, that's the same thing my Dad said. Jackson
played with Samuel across town, I relished getting the bike back out for my 30
second commute to the office (as if I didn't already have reasons to ride the
bike, for the first time the price of fuel is a factor too.) The Bahamas
trip is next week, so ... more

Happy Birthday Dianna!! (hope you feel
better!)

Wednesday the 13th.
After helping us work on the bathroom plumbing, Jackson fell asleep with his miner's light on last night.
Earlier in the evening he pulled out the mandolin and said he wanted us to write
a song together. So I picked up the guitar and asked him what it was going
to be about. He said "about life." I said "well, what about
life?" Jackson replied "you know, just how we pass through life, like, how
we are." I told him that the best songwriters in the world had no more
noble pursuit. I started playing, as instructed by Jackson, very slowly,
in the key of C, while he sang...

I'm so special

I'm such a good boy

I make it through my life

just being how I am.

Oh, I'm so special

Oh, I'm so special

I'm such a special kid, ooooohhhh

He followed that song up with an ode to his
mom that was really pretty good considering he was making it up as he went.
I caught that song on video tape. He never missed a beat, kept a nice
melody, I was very impressed.

Tuesday
the 12th. I haven't updated everyone on Ben's state of affairs
lately. Everyone calls what Ben does jibber-jabber, and that's a
good definition, but he just recently started putting many more real words into
his jibber-jabber speeches. He's in the middle of a pretty rapid increase
in vocabulary. If we repeat a word he said, he now...
more

Monday
the 11th. Such nice weather. Jackson organized a picnic lunch in the
front yard. We had homemade lemonade, peanut-butter and banana hotdogs,
chocolate chip cookies (he gave two to the mailman), strawberries, watermelon,
and Cheetos.

The good news: I
retrieved Ben's little stretchy
orange must-have carry-around-all-day sleep-with toy lizard from the bathroom
sink's drain pipe.
The bad news: I accidentally completely entirely ripped out the plumbing
while doing it. So in the last month I've ... more

Sunday
the 10th. I started paddling early this morning, as the steam rose from
the lake, right around 7:30. I snapped a few photos at the put-in, but
then left the camera behind. So I didn't have it with me to photograph the
osprey I saw fishing. I spotted it after it hit the
water and flew around the bend. I wasn't sure what it was at the time, but it
later flew a few hundred yards in front of me, then circled back and perched in the top of a high poplar tree. I
was able to glide directly below it in the kayak, allowing me to get a much
closer look without disturbing it. I actually thought it was a bald eagle
at the time, but after researching it on the Internet, I've decided that it was
an osprey instead. It would have been a first time sighting for either, but
it was a lot more exciting when I thought it was an eagle. I also saw a
gobbler strutting in the early morning sun, tail feathers fanned out, at the
crest of a grassy ridge. So it was a fantastic, un-photographed morning on
the water. My sister Melanie picked Jackson up and took him to Claudville for the day.
He left dressed as Superman and planned on spending the afternoon with Papa.
Sue and I watched the Martinsville race while Ben napped and Amy went for a Main
Street walk with Megan. Later in the evening,
Mo and Papa visited after bringing Jackson home.

Saturday
the 9th. Amy, Sue and Jackson went to Cana again for some fresh fruit, then
Amy went to Christie Hole's wedding shower hosted by Christi Kirkman in Holly
Springs. Wonderful Spring day today.

Friday
the 8th. Jackson won a whistle at school when he recited his full
address and phone number. On their way out of school after dropping
Jackson off, Amy tossed Ben into the air. He threw his pacifier and said
"The birdies, the birdies!" He loves birds and watches them very
affectionately. Are their birds on the beach in the Bahamas? If they
are there, Ben will enjoy them.

Thursday
the 7th. We live in Mayberry, NC. At
least I think Mount Airy still has plenty of Mayberry left in it.
Here's one example... Jackson runs out to meet
our mailman every day yelling "Hello Tom Snow!". Our mailman yells back
"Hello Jackson!" Our mailman also stops by to talk to me about
motorcycles and usually ... more

Wednesday
the 6th. Yet another beautiful day, great
motorcycle weather. Ben has loved spending time outside this week.
He picks flowers, collects sticks, talks to the neighbor's cat, runs down the
driveway... Jackson had another good day back at school, today was picture
day at Central. Grandma Sue went for another ride, this time going
with Amy to pick up Jackson from school. Jackson asked our neighbor Jacob
over to play tonight and we had a lot of fun playing tee-ball in the front yard.

Tuesday the 5th. Happy Birthday
Isabelle! An amazing seventy-eight degrees
today. One of the things Grandma Sue enjoys about visiting Mount Airy is
having produce markets close by. Today she was
able to not only go to Cana, but to actually walk around and do her own
shopping. Ben gave plenty of ooohs and aaaahs from the cart as Sue pushed
him past the strawberries and candies. Jackson played with Matt and Sam at their
house before going with Ben and I to Claudville to wish Izzy a happy fourth birthday.

Monday the 4th. After spending
ridiculous amounts of time on the highway, our van had a flat tire in the
driveway today, very lucky. And to make it even more fortuitous, I discovered
the leak while home on my lunch break, before all the air had escaped, giving me
just enough time to drive to Parrish Tire before it went pplllfffff. The
afternoon was lovely, over seventy degrees, allowing Jackson, Benjamin, and
Grandma Sue to spend time outside in the sun.

Sunday
the 3rd. Happy Birthday Amy! Timmesa made Benjamin's morning by
bringing Krispy Kremes for breakfast. Amy and Timmesa then went out for
coffee and catch-up conversation.
While Amy was out, Jackson made her a red velvet birthday cake with yellow icing
and sprinkles. Later we all gave Amy her presents, cards, and cake before
Amy went to my sister Deana's wedding shower. Papa and Caleb stopped by to
play with the boys this afternoon and took Jackson back with them to Claudville.
Amy later picked him up on her way back home from Stuart. The rest of the
day was an uneventful evening at home, something we all enjoyed very much.
Sue had a good day and, while tired from the trip, continued to make great
strides in her recovery.

Saturday the 2nd. We made it
home with Grandma Sue today. It was a pedal to the metal trip made in near
record time, even with a stop to fill up on gas and a lengthy layover at a rest
stop, we still made it in under four hours. Ben slept for about ninety percent
of it which helped. Jack and I went out to get some supplies for Amy's birthday
tomorrow while Ben danced around the house playing with the toys he has missed
over the past few weeks. It's very cold and windy tonight for April. Hope it
warms back up soon.

Friday the 1st.
Arrived back in Colonial Heights and even April Fooled them by slipping in
early. I was talking to Amy on the cell phone when I rang the door bell,
she thought I was still a couple of hours away. It scared her when she
opened the door and saw me standing there. I think that's the first time
I've ever tricked her on April 1st. She's pulled some whoppers on me
though. Sue tripped and fell early this morning, but wasn't hurt and Amy
was able to help her get back up.